1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process of extraction of the B group of vitamins and other nutrients from plant matter and more particularly to a process of extraction of the B group of vitamins and other nutrients from plant matter by using water as solvent, wherein a first plant matter to be extracted is treated with one or more acidic compounds such as to convert one or more of the said B vitamins into forms thereof that are more water-soluble, said treatment of the said first plant matter with acidic compounds being carried out either before or during the said extraction thereof by water.
The B group of vitamins comprises the following:
(i) Vitamin B1—Thiamin
(ii) Vitamin B2—Riboflavin
(iii) Vitamin B3—Niacin
(iv) Vitamin B5—Pantothenic acid
(v) Vitamin B6—Pyridoxine
(vi) Vitamin B9—Folic acid
(vii) Vitamin B12—Cyanocobalamin
2. Approaches of the Related Art
The B group vitamins are water-soluble. However, their solubility in water is low and it varies considerably from one member of the group to another. Prior art processes of extraction of the B group of vitamins from plant matter often employ water as the solvent. Because of these factors, the extraction of the B vitamins in prior art processes is inefficient and is not uniform among the members of the group. The rate of extraction is also low.
Another feature of prior art processes for the extraction of the B group of vitamins from plant matter has been that the desired vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are first produced in isolated condition, only to be subsequently compounded to give desired mixtures. For example, individually isolated members of the B group of vitamins may be admixed to form a desired combination of nutrients in a formulation comprising a set of the B vitamins. This is energy intensive and requires numerous processing steps. There is a need in the art to improve the efficiency of the extraction of B group vitamins from plant matter by increasing the solubility of the B group vitamins in water and by reducing the number of necessary processing steps.